May 16, 2023
fans enjoying popular Cuban music duo Buena Fe
“With sadness we announce that the concerts in Salamanca and Zamora have been suspended. Under the pretext of defending democracy, fascist harassment and threats have been unleashed against the owners of the venues and that has been more powerful than the songs. A thousand apologies to those who had purchased tickets”. With this message on their Facebook wall, the popular Cuban duo Buena Fe announced the cancellation of two of their concerts in the Iberian Peninsula, after filling venues in Madrid and Bilbao.
On Friday, May 12, there was also an attempted boycott during their concert at the Galileo Galilei hall in Madrid, by the well-known counterrevolutionary Lucio Enriquez Nodarse: a brief incident, lasting just a few seconds, aborted by the venue’s security, amidst booing from the audience to the provocateur and unanimous applause for Buena Fe.
On Saturday 13, in Bilbao, there were numerous threats on social networks to Bira Aretoa, a cultural association in whose premises the concert was held, as part of a day of solidarity against the US blockade of Cuba, organized by Euskadi-Cuba and the Cuban associations Sierra Maestra and Desembarco del Granma. However, Bira stood firm and hundreds of people participated in all the day’s activities, including the sold-out Buena Fe concert.
That day, a counterrevolutionary association tried to hold a protest at the doors of the Bira hall, but the authorities denied permission for the rally, since, on that day and at that time, a rally against the murderous US blockade against the Cuban people had been requested and authorized. In the words of a spokesman of the organizer Euskadi-Cuba, “the gusanera was left with the desire to restrict the artistic freedom of a Cuban group and to provoke so many people in solidarity called to the day. By holding our rally we avoided a public order problem, which is what we believe they were looking for. They got nothing and the day was a total and absolute success, a day of peace, culture and solidarity. One of them even walked in front of our rally and filmed us with a cell phone, trying to provoke us. But they got nothing. Only the contempt of those of us who consider that the Yankee blockade against the Cuban people is a gigantic crime and a massive violation of human rights”.
However, after the concerts in Madrid and Bilbao, the threats have intensified and the owners of the venues in Salamanca and Zamora, where the following concerts had been announced, have given in to the pressure.
According to the solidarity activist, “this is the usual practice of those who fly the flag ‘Fatherland and Life’ and claim to be in favor of freedom, democracy and human rights for Cuba: pure and simple fascism. They are lackeys and bootlickers of the Empire”.
The State Movement of Solidarity with Cuba (MESC), which brings together more than 60 groups from all over Spain, has expressed its complete rejection of counterrevolutionary fascism and its full support, backing and solidarity with the group Buena Fe. MESC encourages to send all kinds of messages of love and affection to the Cuban musicians.
Source: Cuba en Resumen